[Yoda]

As Ben was the first authorised instructor , how much control did Homer want to exert over Ben's interpretation of the text? I guess we will never know... except that Homer was keen on precision!

Homer Kelley always admired the creativity of Authorized Instructors. That was one of the reasons he put so few drills in the book. Said he:

"I want you guys to have a 'free hand.'"

However, when it came to the terminology, he was adamant:

"Interpret it and expand on it all you want. But don't replace it."

The problem, as he saw it, was that AIs would begin to substitute their own terms -- this is NOT the same thing as interpreting, expanding, demonstrating, using analogies, etc. -- for the ones he so carefully defined in TGM. For example, they would substitute the word "'this'" for the applicable TGM term. And then another AI would say, "'Well, 'this' means 'that,' so I'll just use my own term, 'that,' instead."' And it's downhill from there. Quoting Homer: "Pretty soon you've got the Tower of Babel again."

He held that view to the end. From the revisions to the 7th edition (1-H):

"...this book provides a complete, unified golfing terminology. Even if a term offends, use it as indicated, anyway. It has ample justification, and probably much more than the term you've been applying."

'Nuff said!